Desert Diary

Birds/Bosque del Apache

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Frantic calls of Snow Geese echo as thousands of them fill the air in a
great white cloud, frightened from their feeding ground. They settle on a distant field
as the reason for their sudden retreat, a Bald Eagle, drifts lazily out of the sky,
descending to his majestic perch, a large deadwood tree in the center of the marsh. A
trio of Sandhill Cranes, part of the thousands that winter here, ignore the
distraction, while a Great Blue Heron halts in his approach, looking to see what all
the noise is about. A coyote peering through the reeds, aiming for a Snow-Goose dinner,
realizes that pickings are now slim and trots down an embankment and disappears into
the dense brush.

Part of a wildlife program on television? No, just some of the many
sights available for immediate viewing with no commercial interruptions at the Bosque
del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, winter home to many species of birds uncommon in
the Chihuahuan Desert. Just south of Socorro, New Mexico, it's definitely worth
checking out.

Contributor: Suzanne Kilbourne, Student, University of Texas at El
Paso.

Desert Diary is a joint production of the Centennial Museum and KTEP
National Public Radio at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Snow Geese (Chen caerulescens). Photo by Dave Menke, courtesy of the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service.